Itinerary for Puglia, Italy with kids

Mini Travel Tribe contains Affiliate links. If you click on one and book something we may earn some commission but at no extra cost to you

Puglia (Apulia) is a region of southern Italy– the heel of the boot on the map. We had heard positive reports about the area and managed to get a good deal on flights to Bari. This is the main airport of the area. We found some great places to stay in all our destinations- there are numerous options for all budgets. Here is our itinerary for Puglia. We had two weeks but you could easily condense the same itinerary into ten days or even a week.

Why choose Puglia?

In my opinion you can’t go too far wrong with kids in Italy. The Italians love children, so cater for them really well, and which kids don’t like pizza and pasta? Although ours ate more mussels than pasta! The great thing about the Puglia region was that it has all these advantages and yet is a lot cheaper than many other areas of Italy. A coffee was €1 pretty much everywhere and €1.50 for a cappuccino.

Getting around during your itinerary for Puglia

We hired a car for the duration of our stay, which made getting around easy. When driving in Puglia there are lots of small winding country lanes. These are very pretty but aren’t always the quickest route. Beware of blindly following the sat nav (which we did on occasion) and ending up on a really slow route. Not always the best choice when you have children in the car that are eager to arrive!

There is a decent train network between the main towns in Puglia if you didn’t want to drive. You may then need to combine this with buses or taxis to get to beaches or places not on the train network.

Your itinerary for Puglia: Around Bari

We had a morning flight from the UK to Bari. The capital of the Puglia region, Bari is a large port and working city. It apparently does have a lovely old town area. But we decided to jump straight in our hire car from the airport and head down the coast.

Polignano a Mare

Just 45 minutes south brought us to the beautiful, although extremely popular Polignano a Mare just in time for lunch. Although it had been a very early start from home, it was worth it. Having lunch in this beautiful town made us all feel like the holiday had begun. The most difficult part was finding somewhere to park. It was the weekend and we spent a while looking for a parking spot. Once we had found one we mooched down the hill and headed straight for the old town perched on top of the craggy cliffs.

The old town is a small maze of pretty winding streets, offering plenty of shade from the searing heat. After a wander and lunch we gazed over the small but perfectly formed beach which nestles beside the town. On a hot Saturday in August it was completely packed. With more driving needed to get to our destination for the day we decided not to have a dip.

If we hadn’t had such young children with us we would definitely have done a boat trip to look at the local caves. I was very tempted anyway but was too worried about the two year old heading overboard!

Your Itinerary for Puglia: Salento

From Polignano we drove an hour further south to Lecce, capital of the Salento region. The Peninsula Salentiana, which is more commonly referred to as Salento is the most southern part of Puglia stretching to the end of Italy’s heel. This area tends to be hot and dry and is filled with flat ochre-coloured fields and endless olive groves.

Lecce

Lecce is known as the ‘Florence of the South’ and really is a beautiful city. Probably my favourite of the trip, so should definitely be in your itinerary for Puglia. We loved simply wandering through the winding streets of the old town, much of which is pedestrianised. Doing so you happen across numerous pretty squares and churches. We found the best time of day to do this was in the evening when the whole place came to life with street vendors and street entertainment. Martha was particularly enthralled by ‘the sand man’ making art from different coloured sand. We had to drag her away and then had to go back to look for him every time we were nearby!

The Giardini Pubblico (public gardens) behind the Basilica di Santa Croce had a couple of nice playgrounds which the children enjoyed as a break from looking at historic buildings and churches!

We stayed in Lecce for 3 nights at the Hilton Garden Inn, which suited our family well. The hotel was slightly out of the centre but still walkable and it meant parking was easy. We have other ideas for where to stay in Lecce and other parts of Puglia in a separate post. While based in Lecce we did day trips out to visit other towns in the Salento region.

Day trip from Lecce – Otranto and Castro

One of our days we headed to the East coast of the peninsular, taking in the stunning coastal views and small towns along the way.

Otranto

We drove 30-40 minutes from Lecce to Otranto on the south east coast. Otranto old town is a small ancient walled town set on the cliffs. Small winding streets are mostly pedestrianised although we did see the occasional car trying to negotiate some of them. Locals only I think as in one instance there was only about an inch spare on either side of the small car. Since then I have unintentionally experienced the same in a small town in Mallorca, and now park well outside these ancient narrow streets! Just outside the old walled town there are restaurants along the sea front which were a lovely place for our morning coffee/ milk shake.

Castro

From Otranto we drove south along the beautiful wild coast to Castro. I would definitely recommend this drive in your itinerary for Puglia as it is really stunning. The coastline is dramatic with cliffs plunging into the sparkling Adriatic.

We arrived in Castro at siesta time which was a bit of a mistake as not much was open! There is a marina, which we didn’t go to so can’t comment on and the old town is uphill on top of the cliffs. The main Piazza has stunning sea views and we managed to find the one place in town that seemed to be open to have a late lunch here. It was a nice town but a bit of a ghost town when we were there and so lacking any atmosphere- our fault probably for getting there at the wrong time!

From Castro we headed back to Lecce for dinner in the old town.

Day Trip from Lecce – Gallipoli and around

On a different day we drove to Gallipoli on the west coast of the Salento peninsula.

Baia Verde Beach

We headed there late afternoon and went to the beach at Baia Verde, just south of town. Once we eventually found somewhere to park we arrived on what was a beautiful beach but was quite possibly the most crowded beach I have ever been to in my life! It was a Sunday afternoon in August, so with hindsight not the best day to go. We did manage to acquire a small area of sand to flop our towels down on and the children didn’t seem to particularly mind having so many people around them while they were making their sandcastles. If you are wanting some beach-time during your itinerary for Puglia, I would recommend trying to time it for midweek rather than the weekend.

Gallipoli

After the beach we headed into the town of Gallipoli. The new town is on the mainland and the old town is over a bridge on a small island. It reminded me of a smaller version of Lecce, by the sea. Lots of beautiful buildings and small alleyways to wander through. Plentiful restaurants and shops selling souvenirs. We managed to find a nice restaurant for dinner which was on the edge of the old town looking out to sea. Being west facing we were also treated to a spectacular sunset.

The Salento peninsular has some beautiful towns but is very flat. We enjoyed our three days there and were then ready to move on to the hills of the Valle D’Itria.

Your itinerary for Puglia: Valle d’Itria

This area is the most popular with tourists. Having said that, it is obvious why. Packed with rolling hills, picturesque towns and never far from a beautiful beach, this area should be on every itinerary for Puglia. We stayed at a small group of holiday homes sharing a pool, just outside Ostuni. We had four days there where we combined relaxing by the pool at our holiday home, a trip to the beach and discovering the pretty towns of the area. The places we visited could be condensed into fewer days if wanting to travel at a faster pace.

Ostuni

Being our closest town we did go into Ostuni on a number of occasions.

We had dinner here in the main square and also an amazing lunch of grilled Octopus in a small cafe one day- enjoying the air conditioning. We hadn’t realised when we went in what a specialist restaurant it was. There was no written menu and when we asked what they had it was grilled octopus or octopus panini. Luckily the children love seafood and they enjoyed sharing an octopus while us parents had gorgeous octopus panini.

Locorotondo

This is a lovely little town, set on top of a hill. As with all the towns in this area, the old town area is pretty with a lovely cathedral. We loved the Villa Comunale, a public garden at the edge of the old town with beautiful views across the valley.

Alberobello

Probably the most touristy and busiest place that we went on this whole trip was Alberobello. It’s a UNESCO world heritage sight (which always inspires Husband to go to places!). Despite the crowds it is definitely worth a visit on your itinerary for Puglia. Throughout this area of Puglia you can spot a few ‘trulli’ dotted around. These are small beehive shaped homes, and the ‘zona dei trulli’ in Alberbello has around 1500 of them! It is really fascinating to wander through the area. Most of them are now small tourist shops and restaurants. Some are still people’s homes and there were a few that you could have a look inside for a small fee. The children were fascinated by the ‘gnome houses’!

Monte Beach

Being a peninsular, wherever you are in this part of Puglia you aren’t too far from a beach. After the crowded beach experience that we’d had down near Gallipoli I did a bit of google research to try and work out which of the local beaches to try. We opted for Monte beach, which turned out to be a good choice. It was busy, which we expected on any beach being peak season. Despite this we were able to get a decent space and the children had room to play. The sea was crystal clear and shallow for a long way. This meant the children could enjoy paddling, swimming and splashing in the shallows safely. If you want a Puglian beach with small children I would recommend Monte as the sea was just so safe for them.

There is plenty of free parking space there too (if you are early enough) but also paid parking which had some shade.

Monte beach was only around 10 minutes from where we were staying in Ostuni. There are loads of other beaches in the area that we didn’t try, so whichever part of Puglia you are staying in I’m sure you will be able to find some beautiful beaches.

Your Itinerary for Puglia: Gargano Peninsula

The northern part of Puglia makes up the spur of the Italian boot. The promontorio del Gargano (Gargano peninsula) is really beautiful and was my favourite part of Puglia. It is less visited by foreign tourists than other parts of the region but has plenty of Italian visitors.

To get to the gargano peninsula from Ostuni was the longest drive of our trip. To break up the 3 hours 30 min journey we took a slight detour to Castel del Monte.

Castel del Monte

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most unique castles we have ever seen. Its most unique feature is the shape, being perfectly octagonal. It was built in 1233 by Frederick II and nobody really knows what it’s purpose was.

Situated just North of Trani it was easy to get to by car and there is plenty of parking. Entry is free for children, check out the current prices and opening times on the castle’s website. The interior is relatively plain but it was perfect for young children as we didn’t have to worry about them destroying any ancient artworks! We all really enjoyed a wander around the interior and it made a great stop to break up our journey.

Promontorio Gargano

We stayed for a week on the Gargano peninsula. Mostly because with young children we wanted a relaxed stay at the end of our holiday. We stayed at the amazing Tesori del Sud, which we would 100% recommend, particularly if you have young children. We’ve written an in depth review of this agriturismo because we all loved it so much. It made a great base to spend our week with a combination of relaxing by the pool or at local beaches and visiting the sights of this rugged peninsula.

Vieste

Vieste was the nearest town to our accomodation and so we visited here on a number of occasions. Like many Italian towns in summer it is busiest in the early evening when the searing heat has subsided a little. Although busy it makes a great time to take in the atmosphere, browse the shops and have a drink or dinner.

We loved the old town with its buildings clinging to the cliffs and maze of small alleyways meandering between small atmospheric squares.

Peschici

Forest Umbra

The interior of the Gargano peninsula is cloaked in this ancient woodland. It is criss crossed with walking trails and picnic spots. Being quite high up the temperature here was noticeably cooler than by the coast which in August was a welcome relief.

From Vieste the drive was around 30 minutes to the main visitor centre. With young children this is a great place to base yourself for your visit to the forest. There is a small nature museum from where you can buy trail maps for the many hiking trails throughout the forest.

Laghetto d’Umbra

Also close to the visitor centre is the Laghetto d’Umbra. This is a small artificial lake which has a short walking trail around it, perfect for young children. The lake is also full of fish and turtles, look out for the turtles sunning themselves around the shore. If you have some spare food you can feed the turtles and fish from the pebbly beach.

You can walk along the road to this small lake from the visitor centre or drive for a couple of minutes and park in the nearby parking area to avoid too much walking on the road.

Tips for visiting the Umbra Forest

• There is very limited, if any phone signal in the forest so plan out your route and what you want to do beforehand. Maybe take screenshots of any online information.
• Be prepared for cooler temperatures than on the coast- it is often around 10 degrees cooler. We also had a huge downpour as we were getting back to the car (it was perfectly dry and hadn’t rained at all by the coast).
• We took a picnic but if you prefer there is a trattoria near the visitor centre.

Gargano peninsula beaches

We couldn’t spend a week on the Promontorio Gargano without a trip to the beach. There are plenty of beaches to choose from with lots of lidos with sunbeds and bars. We prefer to flop our towels on the sand with a bit more space so chose to spend the morning at the Baia San Felice. This turned out to be a great choice. It’s a sheltered bay with plenty of shallow water, perfect for children to play in. As well as a lido area with paid sun loungers there is plenty of free space to put your own towel and parasol down.

This small bay is located very close to the San Felice arch. The arch hewn out of the cliffs is visible from the main road that hugs the coastline. Make sure you stop to have a look at the viewpoint from the San Felice tower, before or after your beach visit.

Other suggestions for an itinerary for Puglia.

From Vieste it’s around 2 hours 30 minutes driving back to Bari airport which was the end of our holiday. Two weeks is a great amount of time to explore all the highlights of the region but you can still see lots in shorter itineraries. Here are our suggestions.

Check out our travel resources page for tips on booking travel and accommodation. Let us know if you find these suggestions useful or have any amendments to our information. We hope you enjoy Puglia as much as well did!